Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1938, Blaðsíða 174

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LE NORD
mony of that sea began, Finland, the most northern, most remote
and most thinly populated country, was unable to assume the
leadership. She remained the buffer and battlefield of two earlier
developed and greater neighbours. In her capacity of a passive
factor, a land of possibilities, Finland nevertheless had her in-
fluence on the balance of power in the Baltic and was finally
drawn into the sphere of European politics. During more than
six centuries, Finland was united to Sweden, but was the object
of ceaseless attack from her eastern neighbour. Finland was lost
to Sweden during the Napoleonic Wars and now became a part
of the Russian Empire. The chaos of the Great War demolished
all former political ties and from the destruction arose the inde-
pendent Republic of Finland.
The reasons for Finland’s long political dependence on other
countries are often the subject of query. Some have expressed
the opinion that the qualities necessary to the building of a State
are missing from the Finnish make-up. It is indeed true that in the
Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, one meets principally the high-
ly developed spiritual life of the ancient Finns, but on the other
hand the Finns have always been celebrated soldiers and Finland
has supplied both Sweden and Russia with able statesmen. The best
answer to the question is apparently supplied by the geography
of Finland. In this country there were no central political districts
around which a more extensive State could be formed. Finland’s
capitals have been Turku and Helsinki, but practically any other
city would have been suitable. The fusion of widely spread
nationalities into one political entity has also required time. In
reality the only difference between the political development of
Finland and the other Northern countries is a chronological one.
Swedish domination in Finland began in about 1150 and
ended in 1809. This long period in many ways prepared the coun-
try for her future independence. The Swedish conquest decisively
turned the general development of the country westwards. While
the conquest remained incomplete in the east and left large areas
inhabited by Finnish tribes under the sway of the Orthodox Nov-
gorod, the areas thus united to Sweden began to witness a fusion
of the country and the people under a central power and an
organised form of government. There were no nationalistic
struggles worthy of the name during Swedish suzerainty, but the
higher forms of culture became cast in a Swedish mould, parti-
cularly after 1640, when Finland received her own university